Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
247 listed buildings, 0 of them Grade I. 14,870 people call this town in Hampshire, South East home.
Good on most counts; one lags. Its strongest is schools: primary results beat 77% of towns in England; secondary results beat 83% of towns in England. Lymington’s overall grade, B, puts it better than 64% of UK towns. In the ranking it comes #48 of 76 in Hampshire. Health is another plus (A−) — life expectancy 82.4 for men, 86.8 for women. The trade-off is cost of living — homes sell for a median £445,000, about 7.9 times local household income. Hazard risk is higher than most: 0.9% of homes face a high or medium risk of river or sea flooding. Its remaining grades are unremarkable: C+ for safety and C+ for jobs & income.
Figures: life expectancy and income, ONS · prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years · flood risk, Environment Agency · crime, police.uk, averaged Sep 2023 to Aug 2026 · claimants, DWP.
The 3 things Lymington does most differently from other towns.
Each subject compared with the 2,160 UK towns with an overall grade (schools within England), ordered by how far Lymington is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists 247 buildings inside Lymington’s built-up area, 11 of them Grade II*.
14% of its homes were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town.
The archive holds 3 old photos and postcards going back to 1895.
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Lymington.
Children under 15 make up 13%, lower than both Hampshire’s towns (17%) and England’s towns (18%). Those aged 15 to 24 account for nearly one in ten residents. The median resident of Lymington is 52.9 years old.
53% women, 47% men
About 89 men for every 100 women. Across England, 51% of residents are women. Women live longer than men, so towns with many older residents have more women.
| Lymington | Hampshire | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 13% | 17% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 8.2% | 12% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 19% | 26% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 28% | 26% | 25% |
| 65+ | 32% | 20% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 15% | 16% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 6.2% | 5.7% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 17% | 19% | 17% |
| Degree level | 36% | 33% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · Hampshire and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
Some 1,909 pupils attend Lymington’s four primaries and one secondary. Of its 5 schools, three are shown below, each with the reason. Secondary results at the one secondary school within 3 km: an Attainment 8 score of 51.3, with 57% at grade 5 or above in English and maths.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lymington Junior SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 250 | A− |
| Priestlands SchoolLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 1,205 | A− |
| Our Lady and St Joseph Catholic Primary School - the Learning Federation Partnership of SchoolsTop results in townPrimary | Primary | 104 | A+ |
736 standard sales inside Lymington’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026 put the median at £445,000. 14% live in social housing, below Hampshire’s towns (16%) and England’s towns (18%) alike. The owner-occupied share of households is 66%.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £780,000 | 251 |
| Semi-detached | £399,950 | 167 |
| Terraced | £382,500 | 140 |
| Flat or maisonette | £255,000 | 178 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
The nearest A&E to Lymington is St Mary's Hospital, 11.3 miles away. 2 GP practices serve the town; 86% of patients rate theirs good in the GP Patient Survey. At the census, 18% of people here had a disability, about level with England’s towns (17%) and above Hampshire’s towns (17%).
| Census 2021 | Lymington | Hampshire | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 82% | 83% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 4.9% | 4.3% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 18% | 17% | 17% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · OHID Fingertips, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL · Self-reported health favours young towns, since these answers ignore age; the Health Grade leans on age-adjusted measures such as life expectancy and early deaths.
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Lymington has 247 listed buildings on Historic England’s list: 11 Grade II*. Homes built before 1919 account for 14% of the housing.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 28% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
Just over a fifth of commuters walked, cycled or took the bus or train at the census, about level with Hampshire’s towns (21%) and below England’s towns (27%). Jobs per working resident: 1.1. Of the commuters living in Lymington, 35% work in the town itself. Households take home £55K a year before tax, on average.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
Among the 645 UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, Lymington has less crime per resident than 73% of them. 791 crimes and 90 reports of anti-social behaviour: that is what police recorded inside the town’s built-up area in the 12 months to August 2026. Violent crime runs at 25.8 per 1,000 residents a year. Also worth knowing: 45% of the crimes fell under violence and sexual offences.
Not gradedAnti-social behaviour, shoplifting and other theft are shown but left out of the Safety Grade, which counts violence and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident.
data.police.uk street-level crime · points inside the ONS built-up-area boundary · OGL · The police category of violence and sexual offences includes harassment and stalking.
Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Lymington. Best known first.
MuseumSaint Barbe Museum and Art Galleryin town
Castle · English HeritageHurst Castle4.1 km outside town, to the south
CastleFort Victoria4.4 km outside town, to the southZooZooReptilarium4.4 km outside town, to the southPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
247 listed buildings in Lymington.
Parish Church of St Thomas the Apostle: Photo: Dave Pape · Public domain · Monmouth House (Including the Former Office of the Clerk to the Justices): Photo: Wulfrunian1 · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Southend House: Photo: Jaggery · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Geograph · Londesborough Hotel: Photo: David960 · CC BY-SA 2.0
22 notable people were born in Lymington.
Birdy: Harald Krichel, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Robbie Kay: Heroes & Villains, CC BY-SA 2.0 · Thomas Blakiston: en:User:Fawcett5, Public domain · Adamski: Nana Klimek, CC BY-SA 3.0 · George Elgar Hicks: George Elgar Hicks, Public domain · Hector Hurst: Chris501, CC BY 3.0
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lymington | 14,870 | — | B | D | C+ | A− |
| Everton | 1,615 | 1.9 | — | D | A+ | A+ |
| Milford on Sea | 4,364 | 2.7 | A | D | A− | A+ |
| Hordle | 1,158 | 2.7 | — | D | A | A |
| Sway | 2,437 | 3.3 | — | D | B | A |
| Ashley | 7,730 | 3.8 | C+ | C− | B | B |
| Brockenhurst | 3,484 | 4.5 | A | D | B+ | A+ |
| New Milton | 11,872 | 4.8 | C | C | C− | C+ |
Everton, Hordle and Sway have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
That is 6.8 times the typical UK town for its size.
GCSE results beat 83% of towns in England, and primary results beat 77% (Department for Education, Attainment 8 and Key Stage 2).
Homes cost more than in most UK towns: the median sale over three years was £445,000, against £277,000 in the typical UK town. By type: flats £255,000, terraced houses £382,500, semi-detached houses £399,950 and detached houses £780,000.
Town in Hampshire, England
Lymington is a built-up area of 14,870 people, in the New Forest council area. TownRatings uses ONS’s 2022 built-up areas as towns: the physical town, as people mean the word, rather than a council district, so its figures cover the town itself.
Built from ONS geography and Census 2021
Sources: ONS Census 2021, output areas summed to the ONS 2022 built-up area · HM Land Registry Price Paid (standard sales, September 2023 to August 2026) · ONS Price Index of Private Rents (August 2026, by council) · MHCLG and Welsh Government council tax, Band D 2026–27 (with parish precepts in England) · data.police.uk street-level crime, 36 months to August 2026, points inside the built-up-area boundary · ONS small-area life expectancy and healthy life expectancy, 2019 to 2023 (England and Wales), OHID Fingertips small-area indicators (England) and Census 2021 health, adjusted for age · ONS small-area income estimates (financial year ending 2023) · DWP claimant count via Nomis (January to August 2026) · Historic England, National Heritage List for England (listed buildings, scheduled monuments, registered parks and gardens, battlefields, World Heritage Sites), October 2026, inside the ONS 2022 built-up-area boundary · Valuation Office Agency, Council Tax: stock of properties by build period (31 March 2025) · TownRatings grades: our own summary of the data, ranked against UK towns only. All under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026 (ONS boundaries). Northern Ireland: Source: NISRA; contains Land & Property Services data and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland information, © Crown copyright, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Scotland: contains National Records of Scotland data, Registers of Scotland data and SEPA data, © Crown copyright / © SEPA 2025, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.